Coronavirus in Scotland: One in 11 Scots estimated to have had Covid-19 by December 2020

Around one in 11 people in Scotland are estimated to have had coronavirus by December 2020, suggests antibody data on infection in private households.

Antibody data on infection in private households suggests that one in 11 in Scotland had Covid-19 in December 2020.

The data also suggests that one in eight in England had also been infected alongside one in 10 in Wales and one in 13 in Northern Ireland.

The figures come from the Office for National Statistic’s Covid-19 Infection Survey in partnership with the University of Oxford, University of Manchester, Public Health England and Wellcome Trust.

NHS Scotland has now vaccinated nearly 270,000 of the country’s most vulnerable people against coronavirus, equating to five per cent of the adult population.

As England moves to vaccinate those aged 70 and over, Scotland continues to focus on people aged 80 and over, but the Scottish government insists it is “scaling up rapidly".

As of Sunday January 10, Scotland had given the first jab to 18,714 people aged 80 and over - 6.9% of the age group.

The number is far higher in England, where 1,036,605 people of the same age group (36%) had been vaccinated.

This has been somewhat attributed to “patchy” supplies and inconsistencies across GP practices in Scotland, according to British Medical Association chair in Scotland, Dr Andrew Buist.

He told the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme: “The current problem lies with the next priority group, which is the 80-plus group, which GPs in Scotland are set to vaccinate because the supply of the vaccine so far has been quite patchy.

"Some practices have a good supply, some have had none so far."

He added that the inconsistencies in the number of vaccinations arriving at GP practices has resulted in GPs being unable to plan ahead and invite people for their vaccine.

He said: “We can't plan, that's the key thing. We can't send out appointments to patients until we're sure we have the vaccine in our fridge.

"We were given 100 doses on Monday. We used that all up by Friday. We don't want to send out appointments to patients until we know that we can definitively vaccinate them otherwise patients get very upset."

Professor Janet Lord, director of the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, urged caution among those who have been vaccinated.

Asked whether people who have received the jab can hug their children, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I would certainly advise not to do that at the moment because, as you probably know, with the vaccines they take several weeks before they are maximally effective.

“It’s really important that people stay on their guard even if they’ve had that first vaccination.”

She also warned against the idea of a coronavirus immunity passport until more is known about transmission of the virus among those who have been vaccinated.

“People might think (it is a) passport to freedom and even those who haven’t been vaccinated will see those changing their behaviours and think ‘Well, why should I bother if no-one else is either?’,” she said.

“That’s the real worry we’ve got at the moment.”

However, Professor Julian Savulescu, director of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, said those who have proven immunity should not be restrained.

He added that efforts should be made to allow those with “certain immunity” to return to work and normal life.

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